OWLET NIGHTJAR. 
Mr. Isaac Batey, of Drouin, Victoria, wrote in the Emu (Vol. VII., p. 4, 
1907) : “ It was well into the ’fifties when we had our first intimation of this 
bird by its peculiar whistling call. From then till now it appeared rare. 
Within the last three years one was frequently heard and seen.” 
V^riting of the Ararat District, Victoria, in the same volume, p. 20, Mr. 
G. F. Hill recorded : “ This appears to be a rather common bird here. A 
harsh cry heard every sunny morning during the winter was for a long time 
difficult to locate, but after the expenditure of some patience an observer 
was rewarded by seeing one of these birds sitting at the mouth of its hollow, 
repeating its cry many times while it enjoyed the warmth of the rising sun. 
Mr. F. E. Howe added {Emu, Vol. IX., p. 230, 1910) : “ This form is very 
numerous all through the Mallee, and nests containing eggs and young were 
found in the small dead timber.” 
MacgiUivray recorded in the Emu (Vol. X., 1910) a series of interesting 
notes concerning birds nesting in the Barrier Range of New South Wales, and 
there wrote : (p. 2.3) A Little Nightjar {^gotheles novcBliollcindics) flitted away 
from her leaf-lined hollow, in which she had not yet laid. These interesting 
little birds are common throughout this country, and their ‘ Churr-churring ’ 
note is frequently heard at night ; they nest during September and October, 
laying four or, very rarely, five eggs. Usually the eggs are pure white, but 
sometimes possess indistinct spots or markings, which in some form a zone 
at the larger end. (p. 94) We went through a box flat, to find an Owlet Night- 
jar’s {M. novcehollandice) nest, containing downy young, in a leaf-lined hollow. 
These little birds present a curious appearance, as the white down that 
clothes them when they emerge from the shell still adheres to the feather- 
tips until they are nearly fledged, (p. 97) We found a Nightjar’s {uE. novce- 
hollandice) nest, containing four downy young ones. These birds always hear 
one coming, and the little rat-like head, with round, bright eyes, looking out 
of a hollow, is the first intimation of a nest which otherwise would be passed 
by. The birds sit more closely when incubating.” 
A note by Berney in the Emu (Vol. IV., p. 168, 1905) reads : “ These little 
birds appear to vary much m plumage. I have taken a detailed description 
of one shot near this station (Wyangarie, North Queensland). Although 
the Nightjar sleeps all day, it constantly wakes and calls from out the hollow 
limb in which it roosts, ‘ Chirk, chirk, chirk,’ and goes to sleep again. I have 
heard them at this often and often, but never knew what to put it down to 
until to-day, when, locating the sound in a dead tree, I frightened out the 
bird. I hear a cry at night that I put down to this bird, but it is then short 
and abrupt — ‘Che’ ok’ or ‘Che’ oak’ — and uttered disconnectedly. The day- 
call is just as I have written it.” 
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